Tag: rock

They Might Be Giants | Birdhouse In Your Soul

“Birdhouse In Your Soul,” a 1989 single from the always-quirky They Might Be Giants, reached #3 on the US Modern Rock Tracks Chart, performed well on college radio, and has been the alternative rock band’s best-performing release to date. The tune bounces back and forth between C major and Eb major throughout (starting at 0:27), with the exception of an early instrumental bridge from 1:24 – 1:43, which plays by its own rulebook.

Also stranger than fiction: the tune was later covered by Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene for the TV series Pushing Daisies (see second video below).

Led Zeppelin | All of My Love

1979’s “All of My Love” by Led Zeppelin is a rock ballad co-written by the band’s lead vocalist, Robert Plant, and Zeppelin’s bassist John Paul Jones. The tune was written in honor of Plant’s son, who tragically died of a sudden illness as a pre-schooler. From PopMatters‘ review: “the saddest and most heartfelt Zeppelin song … which hauntingly enough sounds like a foreshadowing of a band on the path to an impending and unforeseeable dissolution.” Indeed, the hugely popular band broke up the very next year in the wake of drummer John Bonham‘s death.

A direct whole-step modulation hits at the 4:25 mark.

John Mayer | Bigger Than My Body

The first single from John Mayer‘s second album, Heavier Things (2003), was the mid-tempo tune “Bigger Than My Body.” Billboard reported that the tune “delivers a contagious melody, an exhilarating arrangement and lyrics that are thoughtful and touching without stooping to sentimentality or bombast.”

Primarily built around E major, the tune’s bridge centers around F major from 2:39 – 3:06, then reverts to E major.

Elton John | The Ballad of Danny Bailey

Elton John‘s iconic 1973 album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, sold over 30 million copies worldwide and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album featured “The Ballad of Danny Bailey,” a tune which seemed so authoritative that many fans thought it was about a real person. But AllMusic‘s review debunks that myth: the subject of the song was fictional.

The track starts with pivots between B minor and C major, builds to pivots between E minor and F major at 0:25, continues to grow in intensity with pivots between A minor and Bb major at 0:31, all supporting a melody ascending in pitch and intensity. At 0:49, the chorus is based on D major, but only tenuously — the lack of harmonic stability seems to reflect the song’s unsettling story. This complex song qualifies as “filler” between the far better-known hits on this legendary album.

Metallica (arranged + dubbed by Andy Rehfeldt) | Enter Sandman

This labor of love is a hilarious re-make of Metallica‘s iconic 1991 track, “Enter Sandman.” Andy Rehfeldt retained only the lead vocal from the original release while re-recording all of the other tracks. The tune has been pushed from its original key of E minor upwards into its relative major key of G major; the original dark metal sound shifts to lightweight, sunny “smooth” jazz. In addition to the full re-harmonization underneath the lead vocal (which stays in its original range), a section of the instrumental bridge (2:42 – 3:00) modulates up a full step before returning to G major.

Eric Clapton | It’s In the Way That You Use It

From MotD fan JB comes this contribution: 1986 saw the release of August, Eric Clapton‘s best-selling album. One of the album’s singles was “It’s In the Way That You Use It,” a tune co-written by The Band’s guitarist Robbie Robertson and featured in the hit film The Color of Money. A whole-step direct modulation hits at 2:35.

The Who | My Generation

#11 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list is “My Generation” by The Who. A short section of AllMusic‘s review of the 1965 release: “An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone. Pete Townshend‘s exhilarating chord crunches and guitar distortions threaten to leap off the grooves…” This classic features modulations at 1:19, 1:49 and 2:26.

David Bowie | Young Americans

David Bowie‘s 1975 album, Young Americans, featured a title track which played up Bowie’s love for soul and R&B — a departure from his previous glam-rock style. R&B/soul vocalist Luther Vandross contributed backup vocals to the track. Self-deprecating as usual, Bowie described the album as “plastic soul…the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak rock, written and sung by a white limey.” Modulation at 2:39.

J. Geils Band | I Do

Released in 1982, J. Geils Band‘s live version of “I Do” took the sound of 1950s a cappella do-wop, added standard rock instrumentation plus horns and harmonica, and turned it into a #24 pop hit. The track was one of the final releases for the Massachusetts-based band, active between 1970 and 1985. The unmissable modulation, introduced by a huge solo drum fill, is at 1:14.